Lovejoy's '78 Derby LS

Just want to say, im loving the forum Charlie.

Ok, where do i start, i bought my derby just over three years ago as a basket case, i'd been looking for one since beeing in the second year at uni but couldnt find one, i had given up and had been given a yellow mk1 polo. The polo turned out to be too far gone so it got stripped of all the useful parts and sold on ebay for 1p!

I finally found my derby at the tatton park vw show in 2004, it looked pretty solid (it wasnt tho) and came with a spare pair of chrome bumpers, bonus! I ended up getting the car for £100 and called me dad who came and towed me home.

At this point i had just bought my first house so had no money or time to start the resto so it sat at my parents house for a year and then it finally started....

This could get a bit long winded so i'll kepp it short, i stripped the car to a bare shell to assess what welding need doing, then got on the phone to my mate boggis, who was a huge help during the project.

Ok the welding that we did was;
Both sills and one inner rear sill, hole in the drivers floor, battery tray, other side tray, lip on scuttle panel, corner of windscreen on scuttle panel, passenger wing had a hole which had to be welded as i couldnt find a replacement wing. It then had a new rear valence, lots of welding under the rear side window on drivers side, then the front valence got replaced, the list goes on!

We replaced thepassenger door, drivers wing and bonnet.After lots of sanding and filling it was ready for paint, we did the factory where my dad works.

Then got it all reassembled just in time for ultimate dubs, where i bagged a feature in Golf+, was well chuffed!

The cars been a few shows this year, the last being tatton park where i came first in my class.

D'oh! Forgot to add the photos, here they are
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There 100's more but you get the idea!

heres a few of it pretty much finished
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Then the engine blew! So out came the 1100 and in went my 1300HH
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Arty photo my mate took
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The cars now off the road again for some touch up work on the paint and to get the bay smoothed and a few other bits and bobs.

Sorry for all the photos and me writing shite!

good to see some of the resto pics dude, that rotten rear window bit looks nasty!

love the last pic especially

Brilliant! And great pics. This car is amazing, bet it will be even better next year. :)

lovely car,
seen it before on ClubPolo, this was the reason i wanted a derby or mk1 in the first place :wub:

Cheers guys! :D

Currently the UK finest MK1 IMHO B)

Good work in bringing round a car that alot of people may have given up on - or passed up... and turning it into a thing of beauty :)

Love this car and have so much respect for the amount of time and effort that has gone into it! Well done mate, cant wait to see it again :D

Mr Lovejoy.......if Carlsberg made derby's...... B)

This really is a stunning car, i'd forgotten how good the Derby shape looks in Mars Red. Like the wheel choice too - do you have clearance problems at the back? Mine needs dropping at the back (60/40 Spax kit) but i reckon it'll rub like a bastard if i'm not careful (i'm on 7 x 13's too).
Good proof that clean and original is most definately the way forwards on these MK1's.
I'd be interested to see more project pics if you have any... Cheers, Vic

Vic - I can't wait to see your car alongside Lovejoy's during next year's show season, I don't think i'd be able to pick a favourite B)

Anyway in response to your rear arch quiery - I cannot speak for Lovejoy's car but mine on 14" x 6" ET30 wheels rubs the (now rolled) rear arch on the drivers side only :( When going over particularly violent bumps/undulations and if I've got the car loaded up, over minor bumps. I think the combination of worn rear shocks and heavily cut-down bumpstops doesn't help the issue. It was fine on the old VW Vento Steels of the same dia & width but these had more offset.

I reckon you will have some arch-rub issues even with arch rolling/pulling? I suppose it depends on if you can do without carrying rear passengers? :unsure:

Vic - I can't wait to see your car alongside Lovejoy's during next year's show season, I don't think i'd be able to pick a favourite B)

Anyway in response to your rear arch quiery - I cannot speak for Lovejoy's car but mine on 14" x 6" ET30 wheels rubs the (now rolled) rear arch on the drivers side only :( When going over particularly violent bumps/undulations and if I've got the car loaded up, over minor bumps. I think the combination of worn rear shocks and heavily cut-down bumpstops doesn't help the issue. It was fine on the old VW Vento Steels of the same dia & width but these had more offset.

I reckon you will have some arch-rub issues even with arch rolling/pulling? I suppose it depends on if you can do without carrying rear passengers? :unsure:

Cheers guys, i think Vic's car is of a higher quality than mine, from what ive seen in the photos its gonna be something really special.
I cant wait to see all of our cars together at some point during a show.

Yeah i have clearance problems! The first time i took the car out the night before the MOT just to make sure everything was fine it scrapped like a bastard, had to tuck the lip on the rear arch's up, it still scrapes every now and then on big bumps, i dont really use the back seats unless were not goin far! Would like to pull the rear arches slightly but dont know where i could get it done as i dont fancy trying it myself. I've got some of Phils lowering caps to give it a nice nose down stance hopefully.

I'll try and upload some more photos at work tomorrow Vic, they're all on my computer there. You got any more pics of yours? I cant get enough of it!

I see you have that cool pic in pvw :)

An Awesome Derby. I saw it at Ultimate and fell in love there! Wanted to have a chat at Inters too but did not get a chance to get away from the stand (apart from a ride in BigDub of course! - and to wind up the driver's side window on my Derby just after the rain on Saturday - can anyone say soggy arse?!)

Anyway - love the Derby. Just finished putting the article together in VW Driver ;) I am also sending you back a brochure to accompany the other one you sent down. Not sure if you'll have it already, but hey!

Looking forward to checking the car out again this year. Good work fella!

Hey, thanks for the comments about my car.
Got my brochures back thanks, and thankyou for the other brochure and magazine. The articals really good, some photos I hadnt seen before, I really love the photo of the original red derby.
Cheers Ste

Any news Lovejoy on how your engine bay progress is going... pics etc? ;)

.....or are the pups taking up all your time :)

To be honest i've not even looked at the engine bay! Pups are keeping me far too busy
:rolleyes:

I really wanted to get it smoothed but don't think i'll have time now, hopefully do it for next year, I'll hopefully have either twin weber's or motor bike carbs for ultimate dubs but knowing how slow I am probably not.

Really need more time